A quote for you from the great mentalist / illusionist Derren Brown (from his latest book) …

You see, he’s a master at getting you to see what HE wants you to see,

Therefore missing out on what is ACTUALLY happening in plain sight.

It’s fun - it’s entertaining - it’s a show …

But your mind does that to you every single day.

Derren speaks:

_______

"Paying attention to the present moment is our most effective means of undoing the harmful and perpetuating narratives by which we live, by challenging them with the counter-evidence we notice around us."

________

To translate, what Derren is talking about is this:

We tell ourselves lies, porkies, untruths, fake news -

and those stories hurt and limit you.

It affects everything you do - and don’t do too.

Sometimes, actually in my experience, OFTEN times -

You don’t even notice this relatively steady diet of limitation.

It’s become so normal that you think that voice is the true voice of “You”.

You don’t see what is true in life, you don’t see the beauty of you, the potential -

You believe the stories filled with the negative, why you did wrong, why you can't ...

Simply because your own mind mis-directs you.

Your mind is a master at creating illusions.

Powerful illusions for sure -

But only because you give them power by believing them, only because you don't stop to examine them.

The way out of living a life of illusion? Of believing the fake news?

Get super present - then you start to see what is real and what isn’t.

Examine your thoughts -

Don’t take them as real,

Take them with a large pinch of salt until proven to be your ACTUAL experience.

(and then let them go too, because your experience will change quickly on this basis)

That is just one of the benefits of regularly closing your eyes to meditate.

The gap between what you experience to be true and real -

And what a voice in your head tells you is true and real -

Gets more and more contrasting.

You gain CHOICE - and that is a powerful thing in freeing yourself from the Matrix,

From the illusion you’ve believed in your whole life.

The end of stress and negativity, the beginning of real Life.

It’s something I recently talked in depth about with Lila, another Ishaya monk from New Zealand.